Hip-hop and R&B artist Anderson .Paak and his band, The Free Nationals, will perform at Dillo Day this year, Mayfest announced Monday night.

A genre-blending artist, .Paak released his first album, “O.B.E. Vol. 1,” in 2012 under the name Breezy Lovejoy, and gained more popularity with six features on Dr. Dre’s 2015 album, “Compton.” He released his latest album, “Malibu,” in January.

Mayfest director of concerts Yumiko Mannarelli said .Paak’s high energy made him an attractive artist for the festival.

“We did a lot of research on artists that we thought would be relevant and on the rise, and he struck us as someone who is extremely relevant,” the Communication junior said. “He’s just blowing up, and we thought that would be the perfect vibe for a Dillo Day performance.”

.Paak’s March performance at South by Southwest, an annual music, film and interactive festival held in Austin, Texas, also boosted his popularity, Mannarelli said. He was also recently profiled by GQ and appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

“It was such good news to see that he was so well-received at that festival,” she said. “We caught him at a good time before he would be out of our reach as a potential artist.”

.Paak will also perform with a live band, Mayfest spokeswoman Elisa O’Neal said.

“When you think about the value of bringing all the musicians to the stage, rather than just someone who’s playing recorded tracks, you get the live-band effect, which is part of the appeal of a music festival,” the SESP senior said.

O’Neal, who has known .Paak’s work for a few years, said she’s excited to see him perform on the Lakefill.

“We’re going to have a performer who is very, very dynamic, who can really command the stage and bring together a lot of spunk and rock and rap and all these different influences, but can also have a more classic rock kind of thing with a lot of funk and jazz behind him,” she said.

Dillo Day will take place May 21.

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